A piece of manufacturing news from Tesla Motors caught our eye, that Elon Musk’s car company plans to die-cast major underbody structures — in effect the chassis — for its cars. All the ingredients ...

Hot rodders know them as V-8s, V-6s, in-lines, or even horizontally opposed, but no matter how they're configured the engine block in your car is the foundation of its power. For this month's "How it ...